e-infrastructure Roadmap for Open Science in Agriculture

A bibliometric study

The e-ROSA project seeks to build a shared vision of a future sustainable e-infrastructure for research
and education in agriculture in order to promote Open Science in this field and as such contribute to
addressing related societal challenges. In order to achieve this goal, e-ROSA’s first objective is to bring
together the relevant scientific communities and stakeholders and engage them in the process of coelaboration
of an ambitious, practical roadmap that provides the basis for the design and
implementation of such an e-infrastructure in the years to come.

This website highlights the results of a bibliometric analysis conducted at a global scale in order to identify key scientists and associated research performing organisations (e.g. public research institutes, universities, Research & Development departments of private companies) that work in the field of agricultural data sources and services. If you have any comment or feedback on the bibliometric study, please use the online form.

The Bio-Fuel, Sustainability, and Geospatial Information Technologies to Enhance Experiential Learning Paradigm for Precision Agriculture Project, recently funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) extends the environmental stewardship archetype of the preceding project titled "Environmentally Conscious Precision Agriculture: A Platform for Active Learning and Community Engagement" (completed in September 2011). The initial phase of the project to demonstrate the production of biodiesel using waste vegetable oil (WVO) from campus dining services has been successfully executed by a team of UMES students. Under the supervision of the project leaders, the students have worked in teams to collect, dewater, and filter the WVO; supported the acquisition of supplies and installation of the biodiesel processor; performed necessary titration and laboratory tests on the WVO to determine appropriate amounts of chemicals (sodium hydroxide, methanol, and sulfuric acid) to be used with a batch of WVO in the processor for the esterification and transesterification reactions; and operated and monitored the 48 hour biodiesel production and washing cycle of the processor. Besides biodiesel the process produces glycerin as byproduct. The glycerin has been used to produce soap successfully by the students. Students have also tested, gelling. tendency of different blends of biodiesel and are currently working with the UMES farm manager to identify and appropriately modify farm equipment for biodiesel use. Students are also working with the university safety office to refine safety considerations to comply with OSHA and municipality requirements. Students will be involved in managing broader logistics of scheduling the processor operation for biodiesel production and utilization, based on needs of the farm equipment. The project team plans to refine the processing of glycerin byproduct to improve the aesthetics, fragrance, and other qualitative parameters of the soap so that they may sell it for possible fund-raising efforts for selected student organizations.

e-ROSA - e-infrastructure Roadmap for Open Science in Agriculture has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 730988.Disclaimer: The sole responsibility of the material published in this website lies with the authors. The European Union is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.